"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten...." - Joel 2:25
When you travel as often as I do, sometimes it becomes a blur....
So many faces, so many places........
It is hard to remember what cities you were in only a day or two ago.
Every now and then, I cross paths with people who etch themselves into my memory..
Her name was Maxine...Her big brown eyes were full of life and perfectly enhanced the matching, rich color of her skin. Her beautiful smile showcased a radiant joy, as if she had discovered something.
I was certain, I needed to talk with her....
I sat in my plane seat quietly reading my novel. I was nearing the end, and wanted to finish, before the flight ended.
As I closed the book...I felt a stirring in my heart...words were silently coming to my mind..
"Give the book to the woman". This was the opportunity. I stood and approached her as she sat in her plane seat.
She was excited and kept telling me how blessed she was. 'Sixty-six years old'., and she was 'beginning again'.
She was listening to God's call on her life.
A preacher's daughter, who had wandered away from God. Her life hadn't been easy.
Disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment and disaster were companions for many years. All resulting from disobedience.
Yet,... every few sentences, she would exclaim how 'blessed' she was!!
Ordinarily, this really doesn't seem so odd...but the fact was....she could hardly move, and was in extreme physical pain.
She required special assistance to board the plane. Having undergone knee surgery in both legs, she was bound to a wheelchair.
She had also been severely injured at work.
A patient with whom she worked had stricken her across the head. After an in-depth assessment of her injury, it was discovered she had a brain tumor. Several tests later, the doctor's told her the tumor had originated many years before, and was quite massive.
In God's mercy, what began as yet another slap in her face, became a catalyst for new birth from a wretched past.
Again she humbly told me...how blessed she was...
And, with tears gently rolling down her face......she said,... that had it not been for the injury at work, they may never have found the tumor. In the end they found it to be benign.
The striking hand that intended to harm her, was the very hand that God used to bring her the blessing.
You see, she suffered the original strike repeatedly,..as a young bride, ... from an abusive husband,....years of physical and mental abuse hauntingly followed her...as she wandered further from the truth that could save her.
She has recently undergone brain surgery,..and is disabled from her former work...she now begins her true calling..
Where she once lived a life of abuse and neglect, she now thrives in the hope of her freedom.
She said God had a calling on her,....
and it was time to come back....
"It was time to listen"...."It was time"....
Her calling??
... to "share her story publicly with whoever might learn from it"...
As life came full circle, God took the wounds of her past and made something beautiful.
She is no longer running from Him, ....instead she runs to Him...
Her darkness has been pierced by the over flowing love of her Savior.
Willing to meet her,.... in her moments of pain,
He has brought her forth,..a lovingly restored vessel ..... overflowing with His blessings.
Even though her life had wandered dangerously far from her First Love,
she now lives to tell others that there is Hope to be had,
when life is lived in sweet obedience to the One who loves us more than life itself.
God is already using Maxine...
she lives to tell how blessed she is...
What she discovered is as close as .....your next breath.
How blessed are you my friend ??
Regardless of your past...He meets you where you are.
